


Come and Tell My Future

by midnightindomie (sinoshi)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, M/M, i have no idea actually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-19 03:34:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10631310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinoshi/pseuds/midnightindomie
Summary: Jongdae goes on exchange for a year, and meets Luhan, the blazed looking flower boy with lots of fans, a bubblegum smile and fluffy hair.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> OH NOOOO haha hello. Okay. This was written for an exchange waaaay back then in 2014. I'm in the middle of importing all my EXO fics from LJ to AO3 due to changes in LJ's ToS(?) and stuff and idk, I'm very fond of my older fics, even if they make me cringe. I think my writing style has changed so much since then? Ahaha but I don't even write for EXO anymore. SO idk idk my dudes I hope you enjoyed this. Even though I don't. But I just really have a lot of affection towards this fic because it was one of the first fics I've ever written lolololol. This is so bad so I don't blame you for not wanting to read this. Anyways

The loud blast of SISTAR's latest hit song fills the cafeteria, as Jongdae and his senior Minseok rushes to sit down at a table and claim it before anyone else does.

"Ugh, God, I hate the kind of fake Japanese food they serve here. I was so sure they were going to stop serving this, but really? Can't they serve something healthier? For the past 3 years, this is the kind of shit I have to eat every fucking Tuesday. Fuck my life." Minseok groans, stabbing his udon noodles with pure anger in his eyes.

"Hm, keep complaining, but you eat them anyways." Jongdae shakes his head as he stirs the bowl of udon noodles in front of him.

"Yeah, by force. I wish my mom isn't too lazy to bring me actual food from home, you know? She says I'm already too old for this shit. Pssh, 'too old' my butt! Anyways, wanna see something cool?" Minseok asks, his eyes twinkling with irrepressible mischief, his gummy smile making him look even more suspicious.

"God, no, not again." Jongdae sighs. The last time Minseok asked if he wanted to see something cool was when Jongdae humiliated himself in front of Minseok's friends--all his seniors. But that's a story for another day.

Minseok reaches into his pockets, fishing out a fortune cookie from inside. A cute--or in Lord Jongdae's dictionary, 'kawaii'--smile fills Minseok's face and Jongdae sighs.

"What's so cool about a fortune cookie?"

"Just crack it open!"

"Ugh, no! You put something there!" Jongdae groans before filling his mouth with udon noodles, eyeing Minseok.

"No, I did not, and I'm older than you so you should listen to me, you little shit!" Minseok complains, eyebrows furrowing.

"..That's not very nice."

"Well you're not being very nice to your hyung, either."

"Maybe it's because you're also not nice to me?"

"I'm not nice to you because you're not nice to me, Jongdae."

"Well then be nicer so I'll be nice to you!"

"You're the one who should be doing that!"

"But I'm Lord Jongdae. I don't care who you are, bow before me." Jongdae smirks, his hands waving around in the air as if he's a king commanding his peasants to bow before him.

"You little fucker, I told you to stop using that nickname. The damn musical’s over, you’re not the king anymore GOD DAMN IT. So just crack the damn thing open." Minseok's eyes are filled with annoyance, staring at an evilly cackling Jongdae.

"Fine, fine, I'll open it."

Jongdae grabs the fortune cookie and cracks it open, a strip of paper peeking out. He pulls it out and reads it, laughing.

"It says 'something big is coming soon'. Oh really, now?" Jongdae smirks, holding his laugh in.

"They really happen, though." Minseok shrugs.

"How do you know?"

"I just know."

"Hyung, don't tell me you're still obsessed with that short Japanese series with that whats-it-called idol group? That--what, AK-47 something? That one with the fortune cookie?" Jongdae asks with fake concern, hands doing the “onigiri” move Sashihara does in the beginning of Koichun. Jongdae would never admit it but he’s actually memorized the dance and _really_ likes the song. He sings it all the time in the showers.

"It's AKB48 and NO I AM NOT OBSESSED JONGDAE WHAT ARE YOU SAYING." Minseok says defensively, hands on his chest, feigning hurt.

"Of course you're not. You're only obsessed with that Paruru girl."

"AM NOT." Minseok half-yells, earning stares from a couple of people around him.

"This is really affecting your life, hyung. If you want to get into a good university, you need to stop being such a fanboy. Why do you like Japanese girl groups anyway, they're all just kawaii and nothing else."

"HOW DARE YOU JONGDAE. I'm bored with Korean girl groups, okay! Hey! I even made lots of friends by being a fan of this group." Minseok defends.

"Oh really? Who knows, maybe those accounts you talk to on Tumblr and Twitter are fake.. Besides, admit it, you like them because of the gravure photobooks, right?" Jongdae smirks evilly, eyebrows wiggling and Minseok gasps dramatically.

"YOU ALSO BUY THEM, ANYWAYS!!"

\---

"Jongdae, could I talk to you for a second, please?" Mr. Cho, Jongdae's homeroom teacher says after class ends that day. Jongdae sighs. _what did I do today_ , he thought.

"Well it's already been a second so bye." Jongdae waves at his teacher before he gets pulled by the older man.

"No, what I meant to say was, can I have a moment of your time? I need to discuss something very important, Jongdae. Something that I'm sure will please you." Mr. Cho says, ruffling Jongdae's hair. Jongdae ducks and glares at his teacher.

"What could possibly please me right now." Jongdae deadpanned.

"Um, the fact that you've been chosen for that one year student exchange? To China?"

"You're joking right." He scoffs.

"Nope. When have I ever joked about something so serious with you, Jongdae? You're my favorite, I could never be cruel to you." Mr. Cho ruffles Jongdae's hair again, smiling happily.

"So this means I get to go to China?"

"You don't say?" Mr. Cho attempts the 'you don't say' face from his seat and Jongdae shakes his head.

"Ugh okay I know I'm going to China but just--wow. Let me process this."

"Yeah kid, you go on home and process this." Mr. Cho says, ruffling Jongdae's hair again.

\---

At home, it's quiet. His older brother Joonmyun is probably working overtime again at his office, his younger brother Jongin is probably off to practice at an entertainment company, and the three don't live with their parents. Their parents live on the outskirts of town, far from any good schools or the place where Joonmyun works, so Jongdae and Jongin tagged along with Joonmyun to the city.

And ever since, Jongdae's life has been a bit lonely. Joonmyun barely has any time for his two younger brothers because he's busy working, while Jongin is always busy training to be an idol. Jongdae? He just tries to work hard at school, and maybe make new friends. The ones back home don't really keep in touch with him anymore.

Sometimes he envies Jongin who makes friends easily and knows what he wants to be when he grows up. He envies that Jongin has a lot of admirers and already has a special someone. He envies Joonmyun who's independent and reliable. He envies that Joonmyun is such a great person, and not useless like him. He really wishes someone would just love him for who he is, not just because he's smart, and not just because his brother's an idol trainee. Definitely not that. Because that's a long story.

But Jongdae loves his two brothers dearly. He loves Joonmyun, who always buys him anything he wants, who always makes lame jokes and is too kind for his own good. He loves Jongin, who's loud and weird, who always mocks Joonmyun for being such a pushover and Jongdae for being such a nerd.

If he really goes for the program, he'll see them even less. And he hates the idea of leaving them alone.

\---

"REALLY?!" Joonmyun nearly chokes on his drink when he hears the news. Jongdae nods, staring at his hyung who is frantically trying to clean up his spilled juice.

"Should I go? I mean, I don't want to leave you alone, you know. Especially with that brat Jongin. Who knows what kind of trouble he'll get into without me." Jongdae says, shrugging. Joonmyun smiles kindly at his younger brother before ruffling his hair, Jongdae avoiding it as usual.

"Jongdae-yah, you don't have to worry, you know? I'm gonna be fine! I can control the kid. If you can do it, why can't I?" Joonmyun shrugs.

"But you're too nice to him! I don't want to get a call saying Jongin's sick AGAIN or that he went missing AGAIN when I'm all the way in China!" Jongdae half-yells.

"Just go, Jongdae! This is a big opportunity! I'm fine, The Brat WILL be fine with me, and I'll make sure he stays away from that boyfriend of his--Sehun--so he doesn't go off somewhere and I'll make sure he doesn't stay out late practicing."

"You do that, too, you know. You stay out late and make me worry."

"So you should stop worrying about us and just go. I'm not kicking you out, but who knows what will happen? This is huge! This could really give you an advantage when you apply for scholarships and jobs and, besides, you'll make new friends. So just go."

\---

Departure day finally comes and Jongdae lugs his heavy suitcase down the corridors of the small apartment, Joonmyun helping him with his backpack, while Jongin sits and stares, mouth hanging open, eyes filled with sleep and an earphone in one ear.

"Where are you going..?" Jongin asks, voice still heavy with sleep. For a brief moment, Jongdae can't help but wonder where Jongin got that ugly-ass sweater because ~~DAMN THAT TURTLENECK IS UGLY~~ he hasn't seen that... Thing... On him before. Is that Sehun's..?

"To China." Jongdae rolls his eyes and Jongin tilts his head.

"Was that sarcasm...?" Jongin asks innocently. Jongdae just glares at the kid and Joonmyun laughs. "It's too early for your weird sarcastic comments, hyung, but where are you _seriously_ going to?"

"JONGIN YOU DIPSHIT! HOW CAN YOU NOT REMEMBER! I TOLD YOU I WAS GOING TO CHINA A WEEK AGO!" Jongdae yells. "HOW DARE YOU FORGET THE LORD’S PLANS!"

Joonmyun mumbles something about Jongdae promising not to use that self-made nickname anymore (Joonmyun missed the play and still thinks it’s a forced, personal nickname), while Jongdae drops his suitcase and runs at Jongin, who's still sitting in the living room.

"I SWEAR I DIDN'T FORGET!!! I JUST DIDN'T REMEMBER FORGIVE ME HYUNG STOP IT!!!" Jongin yells in pain as he desperately kicks and punches the air, limbs flailing.

"THAT'S EXACTLY THE SAME YOU--" Joonmyun laughs at Jongdae's colorful vocabulary, and in general, at the stupid sight before him. Jongin is laid down on the couch, half his tall body on the floor and the other half hanging on to the tiny couch, while his legs and arms are flailing trying to hit Jongdae back. Jongdae is above Jongin tickling and hitting Jongin while laughing evilly like the evil person that he is.

"Alright, alright, stop it you two." Jongdae hits Jongin's shoulder one last time, before glaring at a half-crying half-yelling Jongin.

"Get dressed, you better send me off at the airport you jerk."

"Are you gonna miss me?" Jongin asks before taking off his shirt then and there.

"Of course not. Why should I?" Jongdae shrugs nonchalantly. “You’re a brat, I’m glad I’m leaving!” Jongin pretends to look hurt, hand on his bare chest.

Jongdae just kicks his younger brother before returning to his abandoned suitcase and Joonmyun. He's gonna miss The Brat and Joonmyun.

\---

"You got the passport?" Joonmyun asks.

"Yes, you asked me 100 times already."

"Ticket?"

"Yes."

"What about the--"

"Okay hyung, you seriously need to calm down. I'm gonna be fine. Look, Sleepyhead over there doesn't even worry. You should relax a little." Jongdae points at a sleepy Jongin, sipping on starbucks. Jongin glances at Jongdae before pouting.

"I'm not sleepy, I just slept really late last night." Jongdae rolls his eyes at Jongin.

"Promise you'll call as soon as you arrive? Promise you'll tell me how the family is?" Jongdae nods.

"I promise."

\---

After an excruciatingly painful flight (Jongdae's not a big fan of turbulence), Jongdae arrives in China, luggage in hand and backpack on his shoulders, completely determined and excited about the new environment. The amount of people walking around and speaking a foreign language scares him a little, but he bravely steps forward and collects his other luggage before he wandered around to find the exit.

Of course he failed and got lost instead. His determination dies down a little and the excitement is now gone.

"Excuse me, excuse me.." He mumbles as he makes his way through the crowd. Immediately, he regrets his decision of going off to a foreign country alone. His determination? Completely gone.

"Hey kid! Watch it!"  
"Use your eyes!"  
"Watch where you're going!"

He's probably heard that so many times now that he doesn't have to process the words through his brain anymore.

\---

Jongdae manages to find his new family, a small family of 3 who are humble and much more taller than him--even the young kid 1 year below him. The mother is a kind woman named Song Qian. She's a bit loud-voiced (as is a lot of other Chinese people he's heard today) but Jongdae thinks she's pretty and kind. She has long, straight brown hair and equally brown eyes. The father is a kind Korean man (which helps him a lot!) named Shim Changmin. He's tall. Really tall. His hair is dyed light brown, with dark brown eyes and plump lips, and slightly chubby cheeks, although that seems to be the only squishy part about him--he's well built. The son, named Zitao, looks really mean and intimidating, but both Qian and Changmin claim that he's actually nice deep down. The boy basically has piercings, studs, and spike accessories everywhere, wears all black (in contrast to Victoria's colorful outfit and Changmin's light blue sweater), and his dark hair and eye bags scare the hell out of Jongdae. Not to mention the way he stares at Jongdae with those eyes of his and his intimidating height makes everything worse.

Jongdae goes home with his new little family, nervous and jittery as he listens closely to the conversations they hold in the car, and answers little questions about himself.

\---

The apartment is a lot nicer than his' back home. It's clean, beautiful, and cozy. The colors are soft toned and not vibrant, but they still manage to pop out. Different shades of brown and green make the house look visually pleasing, and Jongdae already feels at home before Changmin can even say "make yourself at home".

The living room is cozy, a navy blue couch and a coffee table placed in front of a plasma TV, and a red rug placed underneath the coffee table. There's a couple of family pictures hung here and there--Qian and Changmin's marriage pictures, Zitao as a baby, Zitao in competitions, and a bunch of other achievement certificates in Zitao's name, mostly about martial arts. There are several trophies, too, and Jongdae notices they're all Zitao's.

"Those are Zitao's trophies. Isn't he amazing? He's won so many wushu competitions, I'm so proud of him." Qian says in a proud mother's tone, smiling at the trophies. Jongdae just smiles at that.

Qian shows him a few more things, including the ceiling to floor window that she claims to have the best view of the Beijing skylines at night. Again, Jongdae only smiles at that.

Once he settles into his small room, he texts Joonmyun that he's safe and settled with his new family, and sighs happily. It's a new adventure, and he's very excited.

\---

"Since you were coming, I was too busy that I didn't have time to prepare anything for dinner. I apologize. I was cleaning your room. But Zitao just bought some food from this really good restaurant downstairs, so let's have a nice supper together." Qian says in her loud voice and Jongdae jumps off his bed, walking towards the dining room, which is just by the huge window.

At this hour, everything is dark outside, but as Jongdae peeks through the creme colored curtain, he can see the Beijing skyline bright before him. Cars' headlights, tall buildings' lamps, and the bright moon above. It's a clear and gorgeous night, and Jongdae just couldn't fight the urge to take a picture of this scenery and post it to his social media accounts and brag to his friends about his whereabouts, and what he's doing. He can just imagine the look on Minseok's face as the chubby senior scrolls through his Path timeline and finds the picture of this breathtaking scene.

"Jongdae, dinner!" Qian says with her unbelievably loud voice and Jongdae sits himself next to Zitao, smiling at the younger one who smiles back politely. Maybe he really is nice. You know what they say, never judge a book by its cover.

When they were finished, Zitao taps Jongdae's shoulder shyly and holds out his hand to reveal fortune cookies.

Jongdae internally facepalms.

"Um, I got some fortune cookies. They tell your fortune, it's really cool! You wanna have one?" Zitao offers shyly, an adorable smile on his face.

"I don't believe in these kinds of things." Jongdae declines politely, but Zitao's expression turns into that of a pleading 12 year old baby.

"Take one? Please?" Jongdae raises an eyebrow at the pouting boy, picks out a random cookie without second thought and opens the plastic wrapper, while Zitao mumbles something along the lines of _'you're supposed to think about which one you're gonna pick for good fortune!'_

"Just know that I don't actually believe in things like this."

_Love is around the corner--look out!_

"How nice.." Zitao muses, looking at Jongdae's fortune cookie. "Hey, maybe you should really think about it, eh? They're always right, you know!"

Jongdae laughs, patting Zitao's head while on his tiptoes. "Funny, that's what my friend back home said. Maybe I'll think about it. You're so adorable." Jongdae says, skipping to his room while laughing.

Zitao really is an adorably naïve kid. Jongdae is definitely not here for love.

\---

On Monday, he starts school. He gets paired up with a tall, scary dude named Kris who apparently speaks a gajillion languages, is the basketball team's captain, and is from Canada, for a tour of the school. As expected from a jock, the jerk leaves him halfway through the half-assed tour he was giving for a friend who was calling him over (who needed help with his exchange student that he was guiding—what a jerk), leaving Jongdae lost and clueless.

After managing to find his class in the huge school, he stumbles in nervously, realizing he's late.

And he sees that Kris is in the same class as him.

That jerk.

"You must be Kim Jongdae, the Korean boy here on exchange! Introduce yourself!" The overexcited math teacher says as soon as she sees Jongdae, a somewhat off-putting smile on her face.

"Um. I'm Jongdae. I'm from Korea. Nice to meet you? I guess? Let's be friends." He scans the room for reactions but all he hears is Kris' scoff from the back of the room, whispering to his asshole jock friends with a mocking smile.

Jongdae rolls his eyes and scoffs back, glaring back at Kris. Unbelievable. How could someone disrespect him like that?!

Then again, this isn't his homeland, and he’s minority (which people tend to look down on a lot), but he's not regretting his comeback at Kris. It may get him into some trouble but whatever. He's here to study, not make friends. And maybe to sightsee. Maybe also try out food. And go see some hot tourism spots. Maybe buy things for himself.

"Mr. Wu, cut it off. Mr. Kim, seat yourself with Lu Han over there. See that pretty boy? That's him." Overexcited Math Teacher points at a boy with a bubblegum smile who sits in the middle row, huge deer-like eyes devouring him like cheese and he has that adorable brown, fluffy looking hair Jongdae just wants to touch.

"Hi! I'm Luhan!" Bubblegum boy Luhan says, smiling wider.

That wide smile is disconcerting, though. So is that face. Jongdae feels his heart race--in fear, he assures himself. It’s too early to be liking anyone. He stares for a few moments before he blinks and introduces himself back.

 _How much more unlucky can I get,_ he thought, _sitting next to a creepy, most-likely perverted and blazed kid like him. I'm pretty sure he hides porn and drugs in his big bag_.

But Jongdae is very wrong.

As soon as Overexcited Math Teacher (whose name he didn't quite catch) starts asking questions, Luhan always--ALWAYS--raises his hand and answers perfectly with no mistakes. He's smart, and his bag isn't filled with drugs or knives and/or Japanese girl groups' gravure photo books or anything (unlike Minseok, who lives off of trading pictures of girls in bikinis). Hey, it's not Jongdae's fault he got curious! The flower boy looks blazed as hell!

And boy, is he excited to check out the girls in his class because he's pretty sure the girl from the front row looks like Seohyun of SNSD. Not that he’s gonna date that girl (because honestly, he’s not so interested in girls) but he’s hoping for some boob action. Do Chinese girls have better boobs?

\---

By the end of his first month, he's failed 3 of his classes, he's not getting any closer to Luhan who just stares at him whenever he asks about something or says something (maybe it's his accent?), he finds out the name of the girl who looks like Seohyun (but she’s too skinny for Jongdae), he gets into a sass showdown with Kris (and wins even with his mediocre Chinese, but then again, Kris is also a foreigner) and he finds out Zitao is a sucker for Korean dramas (and the younger makes him watch a lot of it).

And Zitao is a clingy, whiny, baby in a giant's body who likes cuddling and sleeps everywhere, including on Jongdae's shoulders and lap.

And Jongdae still hasn't visited any hot tourism spots, hasn't gone sightseeing, and hasn't bought anything for himself. But that can wait, he's got 11 months left.

\---

"Hey, how's Beijing? Find any hot girls?" Minseok wiggles his eyebrows over Skype one night. Jongdae scoffs.

"You'd think they'd have pretty girls here but it's pretty much the same as back home. There's this girl in class but she's a total bitch, don't think she's my type." Jongdae shrugs.

"And you think you're NOT a total bitch? Cause you totally are."

"Fuck off." Jongdae stomps his feet even though Minseok can't see it, but he hears it, and he laughs. "I'm serious." He adds.

"How rude!" Minseok says, feigning hurt. "Anyway dude, did you go see SNH48? So jealous cause you're in China and I'm not." Minseok huffs and Jongdae rolls his eyes at his hyung.

"What, Shanghai 48? They're _obviously_ in Shanghai."

"Yeah, isn't that where you are?" Minseok asks.

"No, I'm in Beijing!" Jongdae yells.

"Isn't Shanghai in Beijing?"

That night, a mysteriously loud facepalm could be heard around the world.

\---

At school, things are terrible. The students ignore him and look at him differently because he's a smart student here on exchange. The teachers expect a lot more from him even though his Chinese is only a little bit above average. He has no friends, and whoever told him he'd make new friends here is a huge liar. But he tells himself he's here to study and not make friends, although he does get lonely at school. His only friend is Zitao, and even that is at home.

He also thinks Mr. Cho is laughing at him from way back in Korea right now. Jongdae should've said no to this whole thing. He can get scholarships through other things, this doesn't have to be it. Right? He can just volunteer in RCY or something and get a letter of recommendation or certificate or some shit. That would be very useful, right?

Besides, how creepier can Luhan get? The dude basically undresses Jongdae with his eyes. Jongdae is seriously concerned and worried for the bubble flower boy.

So Jongdae taps the boy on his shoulder one day, while the boy is busy flipping through a suspicious magazine.

"Hey." Jongdae pokes a few times before the boy jumps and looks at Jongdae, face flushed.

"It's not mine!" Luhan yells.

"What."

"The magazine. It's not mine, I swear! It's Kris'!"

"Um. Ok."

"DON'T JUDGE ME. IT'S NOT LIKE THESE GIRLS ARE 13!!" Luhan yells louder, and Jongdae winces at the volume. A couple of girls from the front row stares at them.

"I wasn't--" But Jongdae was cut off.

"IT'S COMPLETELY NORMAL. I'M STRAIGHT."

"I wasn't gonna ask that, but--"

"ARE YOU JUDGING ME, KOREAN BOY?!"

"Are you done?" Jongdae asks, eyebrows raised. "I'm concerned, Luhan."

"HERE HAVE IT. I DON'T CARE." Luhan passes the magazine to Jongdae before standing up. "AND DON'T BE CONCERNED, IT'S NORMAL!" Luhan yells, face red with embarrassment and Jongdae wants to laugh and be confused at the same time because really, he was just gonna ask if there's a club he can join so he can _maybe_ get friends and impress girls and improve his grades a bit. Besides, that’s what Mr. Cho also recommended for making friends (besides trying to befriend the people sitting around you). The teacher told him to ask his guide (Kris) but who would? The dude's a jerk who Jongdae thinks might be dating Yixing the popular idol, because they basically hang out all the time. Nobody wants to be near that... That negativity. Power couples are a terrible, terrible thing.

But whatever, at least now he gets a magazine for free. (He’s a guy, okay, he still has those ~feelings~ about a girl’s body parts even if he’s gay. Or slightly gay. He doesn’t care either way. But he still prefers guys more. Nothing that you wouldn’t already know.)

\---

"I'm impressed. You managed to lift a porn magazine from a classmate." Minseok nods in approval, proceeding to then wiggle his eyebrows at Jongdae grossly.

"Ugh hyung seriously, you need to stop hanging out with Dongwoo hyung. It's not healthy I swear to God! You're smart, don't let the stupid dude get to you."

"I choose my friends wisely, okay? Are you saying I need to change friends?! If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have met you!" Minseok says matter-of-factly.

"And hit on me then embarrass me in front of your friends?" Jongdae groans.

"Exactly!"

Jongdae stuffs his mouth with noodles and covers his face with the magazine in embarrassment. It was really not his finest days, back when he had those geeky glasses and was easy to trick. Now, he's changed. For the better, of course, otherwise nobody would call him Lord Jongdae. (Nobody calls him that, except himself and that idiot Myungsoo during the play.)

"Wait, hold the magazine there. That face is a lot more better than yours, Jongdae."

Jongdae internally facepalms.

\---

"Hey Luhan." Jongdae taps the flower boy's shoulder. The flower boy turns around, looking like a deer in the headlights when he realizes it's Jongdae. Jongdae can't help but make a cooing sound. Internally, of course. Jongdae would never.

"There!" Luhan gasps and points behind Jongdae. Jongdae looks behind him and when he looks back, Luhan is gone.

Jongdae sighs in defeat.

\---

"Hey, Luhan, can I ask you something?" Jongdae asks Luhan in class, when Boring Teacher [#1099](http://www.livejournal.com/rsearch/?tags=%231099) is explaining something in fast-paced Chinese. This time, Luhan can't run away so Jongdae will get an answer.

"It's not mine."

"I wasn't gonna ask about the magazine. I was just gonna ask if there are clubs I could join here. I was wondering if you'd know any since I'm obviously not gonna ask Kris, so stop avoiding me and being embarrassed."

"Why would you want to join a club here, Korean Boy?" Luhan turns his head to look at Jongdae this time, curious.

"I kind of need a friend?"

"I could be your friend." He mumbles, looking back at his text book. "But you know.. I'm in the soccer club and there will be tryouts this Friday, if you're interested." Luhan shrugs.

"Nah, anything else?" Jongdae asks.

"I don't know, why would you ask me?"

"Because unfortunately, you sit next to me."

Luhan kicks him under the table and Jongdae snickers, satisfied. Nothing feels better than making people rage.

\---

Zitao offered Jongdae a mini tour of the city on his 4th month there, promising only the best views of Beijing and maybe a little bit of shopping.

Jongdae, being the excited foreigner that he is, agreed to go on the tour.

They went to a part of the Great Wall of China, Jongdae taking in the great view before him. He smiled widely. He felt really, really happy. This is one of the moments where he doesn't regret ever accepting the offer.

Then they go to the overly crowded Forbidden City. Jongdae hates crowded places, so he asked Zitao if they could just snap a few pictures then leave. Of course Zitao agreed, this tour is just a cover for his (evil) plans.

They then go to the Temple of Heaven. They stayed for a while then headed out for lunch, which is when Zitao takes out his evil plan of dragging his new hyung along for shopping.

And that's kind of how Jongdae is now stuck in the middle of a Gucci store. If his friends (especially Minseok and his mini posse) finds out, he'd never live it down. Jongdae, the manly, self-proclaimed "Lord", shopping at Gucci? Pfft!

"Huh, Korean Boy Jongdae?" A familiar voice says, and Jongdae turns around.

Yup, Luhan.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Luhan laughs, making a maniacal facial expression.

"What are _YOU_ doing here? Shopping to maintain your flower boy image? Shouldn’t you be off reading those gravure magazines?" Jongdae replies, staring at the fluffy haired flower boy. Luhan just smiles and his eyes crinkles up. Jongdae thinks he might have to go to the doctor for his heart, now, because how does his heart do that around Luhan?

"Of course not, silly! I'm a manly man, remember?" And Jongdae snorts at the statement. How dumb. "So, are you alone?"

Jongdae glances at a fanboying Zitao and thinks _fuck it, this kid knows his way around anyways_ so he says, "yes I am," in hopes of Luhan dragging him away. Luhan doesn't disappoint.

"So am I! Well, I’m with my mom but I can just leave her. Wanna grab some food together?" Luhan points over his shoulder, towards the door, and Jongdae nods.

Now time for some ACTUAL Beijing food instead of the fast food crap Tao gave him earlier because he said he "has no money." Obviously you do have some money if you can afford some branded items, for sure.

\---

"So, you're only going to be here for a year?" Luhan asks, eyes gleaming with hope. Jongdae doesn't know what kind of hope, but he hopes this boy isn't kicking him out or anything. So far, Jongdae loves Beijing. The view, not exactly the people at school. He would love to stay for more than a year! It would be very lovely if he can also bring his parents, Joonmyun, and Jongin along with him. Jongin will surely love the food and Joonmyun will also enjoy the view very much.

"Yeah, sucks I have to leave that soon." He says, mindlessly stirring his colorfully sour drink.

"You don't want to stay longer?"

"Of course! If the people at school are nicer, maybe I'll think about moving here one day."

"You don't think I'm nice?" Luhan asks, his face looking disappointed. "Everyone thinks I'm nice and smart! Was it that magazine thing because that's totally not me, okay? You have to believe me!"

Jongdae glances up from his drink and laughs at Luhan's panicked face. Eyes wide, cheeks red, mouth slightly hanging open, and Jongdae kind of wants to squish his face. Maybe not _kind of_. More like _really_. Yeah, he really wants to squish Luhan's face.

"You're nice. Kind of." _And you're also kind of cute but who would say that. Not me obviously. Some girls, maybe. Maybe that girl from the front row who has an obvious crush on y--_

"KIND OF?! ONLY KIND OF?!" Luhan shouts and now Jongdae is really embarrassed at the stares they're getting. That old lady is judging them so hard that if stares could kill, the two of them would've been dead in just a split second.

"Okay not _kind of_ but more like.. Just nice. You didn't talk to me during my first 2, maybe 3 months here. Like, you literally just stare at me like I pronounced something the wrong way and had said an awkward thing or something. Tell me if my pronunciation's off next time. Or my grammar." Jongdae says quickly. "So don't yell please, this is a public place and I'm embarrassed."

"Who cares if you're embarrassed, Korean Boy!" Luhan says, sipping his coffee. Luhan reminds Jongdae of Minseok a lot. "Did I really do that? Was that really obvious?"

"Umm, yeah?" Jongdae says it like it was _that_ obvious. Luhan has a blank look before he quickly spoke up again.

"So what's Korea like? Have you seen TVXQ before?"

\---

Turns out that Luhan is a huge TVXQ fanboy. He breathes their music and lives for U-Know, basically. Every chance he gets to speak to Jongdae, it's nothing but U-Know Yunho and his body and his dance moves and his voice and his perfect everything.

Jongdae is torn between liking the fact that Luhan is talking to him properly now, or hating the fact that all the flower boy does is sing and fanboy over U-Know. Because he kind of wants Luhan to fanboy over him like that, too.

Some days, Luhan will ask about Korea and the trainee life and the culture and language, and Jongdae will tell him Jongin's experience as a trainee there. Some other days, Luhan just rambles about U-Know Yunho.

Jongdae kind of likes the little thing they have going on.

\---

"Hey, do you believe in fortune tellers?" Luhan asks one day during a year-end school festival. Jongdae looks at Luhan weird before laughing.

"No! Because who believes in stupid things like that?" Jongdae says, swinging his legs merrily as he strolls down the crowded school lawn.

"But.. It's cool! It could happen, you know?"

"Funny, a senior of mine back in Korea said the same thing." Jongdae takes a sip of his mineral water and Luhan grabs his hand all of a sudden.

"Hey! Let's get our palms read and maybe get one of those free fortune cookies over there!" Luhan says excitedly as he drags Jongdae along.

Luhan is--surprisingly--a strong man for his small size. Jongdae can't exactly do anything about it, can he? Especially when an over-excited Luhan is dragging him.

\---

"You are... Interesting." The crazy looking girl from class XI-4 says through her big sunglasses, hand grasping Jongdae's own.

"Of course I am, I'm Lord Jongdae."

"I'm sorry?" The girl asks, eyebrows raised.

"Nothing, carry on with your bogus analysis."

"As I was saying, you're quite an interesting one. You came here because you wanted to get a scholarship, huh?"

"Well anyone can guess that, why else would I be here?" Jongdae mumbles and he swears he can hear the girl scoff at him.

"You... Well just to let you know. There's something big coming your way. You will be very happy about this. See this line?" She points to a star shaped line underneath his ring finger. "This is called the star line. You will receive a lot of fame this year."

"You’re quite selfish when it comes to love, eh? See this? It’s the heart line. Because it starts here, you’re kind of selfish. You want everything to go your way but, this circle here indicates sadness. Why are you sad? Did you get your heart broken?” She asks, holding her finger on Jongdae’s “heart line”. This girl probably got this shit off Google and by watching some palm reading shows because Jongdae feels like he’s heard some of these lines being said before. Jongdae’s not superstitious. He doesn’t even believe in ghosts.  
  
Jongdae wonders how someone can actually predict the future by just looking at the lines on his palm. It's funny. But oh well, if this is someone's idea of having fun, he can't see why he can't also have fun while doing this. Might as well, right?

\---

"Take one!" Luhan says, pointing to a clear glass bowl filled with wrapped fortune cookies on a table. The girls behind the table (a couple of girls from X-2) giggles as Luhan smiles kindly at them. Jongdae rolls his eyes as he blindly grabs a fortune cookie and unwraps the plastic wrap.

"You see, they never actually happen. So I don't believe them at all." Jongdae says as he cracks it open.

"Congrats, love is in the air.." Jongdae reads in a bored tone and laughs. "Sure, whatever."

"Luhan! Can we take a picture with you?" The girls from behind the counter giggles again as they hand a camera over to Jongdae and stands beside Luhan before the poor flower boy can even answer.

Jongdae laughs as he snaps a quick picture for the giggling juniors and Luhan.

\---

"So, I started dating this sweet girl from work. Her name is Sooyoung.” Joonmyun says over Skype one day, showing a picture of a girl who looks pretty tall (she’s wearing heels, though) and has long, wavy hair. “She’s a very lovely girl, and you should meet her when you come back! I’m having her over for dinner tonight so she can meet Jongin.”

Jongdae smiles at his hyung. Joonmyun tells a lot more stories about the two of them and how long they’ve been friends before this and all the stupid inside jokes they make. Joonmyun even shows him a picture of the two of them. They look and sound kind of close and Jongdae wants to be that close with Luhan, too. He wants Luhan to be able to joke with him like that instead of the usual serious discussions on the Korean trainee life Luhan is so interested in. The polite conversations Luhan holds, or the normal styled jokes they tell each other, or Luhan correcting his awful Chinese is not enough. It's not close enough for Jongdae. Is it because he’s a foreigner?

And listening about Joonmyun and Sooyoung like this reminds him that he’s been missing out on a lot of important things back in Korea regarding his friends and family, because he volunteered to be sent a thousand miles away just for experience. Just so he can add this in his scholarship form or job applications in the future. Right now, it’s really not worth it.

He wants this year to be over so he can go home, but at the same time, he's reluctant about leaving Luhan. He kind of likes Luhan. The fluffy haired, flower boy with the bubblegum smile who sits beside him and laughs at his stupid jokes and corrects his Chinese. The boy who loves soccer and shopping in branded shops because he's "a manly man with an image to uphold". The boy who talks about TVXQ's U-Know and wants to become a singer in Korea. The same bubbly boy who has a lot of fans and friends.

He wants to be near that boy. He wants to be a part of that boy's life. But the problem is, he's not sure how, and he’s not sure he wants to hurt Luhan when he finally leaves for home.

  



	2. Chapter 2

"It's awful. It's really awful." Jongdae munches and attempts to swallow the awful tasting something Luhan just brought from home.

"It's good! It's delicious! Why won't you believe me, Chen Chen?" Luhan pinches Jongdae's cheeks and smiles as he eats his food. Jongdae wants to slap that damn smile off his fucking handsome face.

"Because it tastes like crap!" Jongdae frowns as he swallows and feels the aftertaste in his mouth. It tastes like vomit. Maybe he shouldn't have suggested the lunch switch idea to Luhan, who has weird tastes in basically everything in life.

"But bibimbap is really good. Thanks for making me this, Jongdae!" Luhan says as he takes another spoonful of rice and swallows it. Jongdae stares at his homemade bibimbap he and Zitao made together last night for dinner.

He wants it back.

\---

Finals are here.

Jongdae panics as he shuffles through his notes. He can't read anything amidst his panic. Everything is foreign and ugly and terrible and he wants to yell in the middle of the soccer field while it's raining and hit his chest like they do in movies during a breakup.

He wants to go home.

"Hey, you ok?" Luhan asks, patting Jongdae's shoulder. He's not okay because _what is this log shit?!_

"I'm fine." Instead, he answers that. But he's still unable to comprehend anything because it was a mistake to not translate any of his notes last week to make it easier for him. Reading becomes a pain in the butt when usually, he's such a diligent student who reads his notes carefully instead of joking during semester finals.

"You sure? You look kind of stressed there."

"I can't review anything. I can't read anything. Luhan help me!" Jongdae grabs Luhan's wrist and dramatically cries, attracting the attention of a couple of girls around them who just giggles at the sight.

"Okay, let's read slowly then. Don't be panicked because I'm sure you'll do just fine, Jongdae!" Luhan says with his trademark bubblegum smile while rubbing Jongdae's back to calm him down. Jongdae, by now, has accepted the fact that he really, really likes Luhan.

And so Jongdae's ability to speak has just disapppeared.

\---

The holidays. Ahh, the beautiful holidays.

Except no, it isn't so beautiful. Luhan is leaving for a vacation with his rich ass family to a tropical country somewhere in Southeast Asia (presumably Bali, Indonesia. I mean, where else would you go for a hot summer vacation away from the city during winter? Exactly.) and Jongdae is lonely and Zitao and Qian are off to some place in China for a Wushu competition. Because this is Zitao. Changmin, meanwhile, is flying back to Korea for work once Zitao and Qian are back. Jongdae is jealous. He wants to go, too.

Jongdae wishes he can go home but nope, he's got extra (EXTRA!) bridging classes to help him with the different curriculum in China. Sure, the people there are nice and all, but to him, they're all just Smartass [#1](http://www.livejournal.com/rsearch/?tags=%231) from Japan, Smarty McSmartson from Singapore, or Smartface Fartface from Thailand. Jongdae seems to be the only one not catching anything in class.

And then there's that one kid named Kyungsoo, a dorky, chubby boy with big eyes and heart-shaped lips from the outskirts of Seoul. Sure, Jongdae's happy to have a Korean with him, but that boy is too smart it's unhealthy. Jongdae wants to punch the poor boy. But the poor boy, it seems, has no other expressions than looking terrified and Jongdae's scared that if he punches the boy, he won't even do anything. Poor boy.

The dorky boy goes to the same school as Jongdae's, but Jongdae never sees him around. But of course, he sees the boy when bridging courses start a few months ago.

And Jongdae's kind of jealous of the little secretive relationship Kyungsoo has with Kris. Kris would pick Kyungsoo up from the bridging course place and Kyungsoo's terrified face turns into a cute, heart-shaped smile. It's adorable. Although he wants to have something like that with Luhan, too, he's not gonna lie that he's worried Luhan's straight and doesn't feel the same way.

He's scared Luhan might not want to be friends with him anymore.

\---

"How was your exotic getaway, princess?" Jongdae asks, nudging Luhan's ribs.

"Bali? It was good. Got to see some hot girls in bikini."

Jongdae feels his heart literally break. He doesn't know why, but he feels disappointed just hearing that. Because Jongdae really hopes Luhan isn’t as straight as he thinks. But maybe he really is.

"But of course I didn't forget you, Jongdae! I got you some orange colored shorts and some surf keychains because you're my Chen Chen!" Luhan says excitedly, pinching Jongdae's cheeks with a smile.

"What the fuck is a Chen Chen? Will you stop calling me that?" Jongdae mumbles as he takes the (again) orange plastic bag and stuffs it in his backpack.

"You're a Chen Chen!" Luhan says.

"If I find out that Chen Chen means something terrible I'm gonna punch that smile off your face, Luhan." Jongdae points a finger at Luhan who just coos and pinches Jongdae's cheek.

"Why would I ever do that, Chen Chen!"

\---

And Jongdae finds out why he's called Chen Chen. Apparently, it is the name that Yixing and Kris uses to talk about Jongdae without Kyungsoo picking up on it, because they were afraid that Kyungsoo would tell Jongdae what they said about him. Apparently they talk about terrible things behind his back. They gossip about stuff Jongdae does, like hanging out with Luhan and the national wushu champion Zitao, or him caught buying SNH48 merchandise to smuggle drugs back to Korea. Which is dumb. Why would anyone do that. If he were to smuggle drugs, he knows that there’s a better way. He’s smarter than that, he’s here for a reason. Besides, Minseok the Wota makes him do it!

But Kyungsoo actually caught on after a few months and finds out that Kris and Yixing are talking about Jongdae with the name Chen Chen. And that's how Luhan finds out because he doesn't hang out with Kris a lot. And that's kind of how he started calling Jongdae Chen Chen in front of Kris and Yixing so that they'd stop talking about Jongdae behind his back, because he already knows the nickname.

Jongdae finds it sweet. Really sweet. Even if he thinks that they’ll just create a new nickname, but the attempt to make it stop is really sweet.

(And Jongdae was wrong about Kris and Yixing dating, too. Yixing's seeing some guy from another school and Kris is in love with Kyungsoo, who apparently is lucky enough to hang out with the cool kids because his guide was Yixing and not Kris The Jerk.)

\---

"So, I need you to sit down before I tell you this news." Joonmyun says over the phone one night.

"Sure, what's up?" Jongdae sits down warily, heart thumping. He's kind of scared. Did someone die?

"You know Jongin's been in the debut team for a while now? Well he's.. Debuting. In 2 months." Jongdae can almost hear Joonmyun smile over the phone.

"Are you serious?!"

Jongdae can't help but cry and smile at the same time because he knows how tough it is for Jongin. He's been training since he was 12, and now he's 15, and 3 years isn't short at all. Intensive dancing classes, rap lessons and singing lessons, acting, modeling, manners and all the other shit that goes with a debut team has made Jongin look sick and thin. Joonmyun sends pictures every once in a while and Jongin looks really depressed and Jongdae just wants to go home, hug the boy, and scold him for not eating well or resting properly. He sounds tired on the phone and he looks dead on Skype. Jongin is too young for that shit, and Jongdae was opposed to the idea of Jongin being an idol at first, but he gives in because it’s his baby brother.

But however happy Jongdae is, he's still sad because in 2 months, he'll still be in China and he can't go home. That means he'll be missing another big thing. He wants to be there for Jongin and brag to Luhan about Jongin being TVXQ's company junior in SM.

He kind of hates himself for accepting the offer now.

\---

The Chinese new year is here and Jongdae is celebrating it with his new family in Qian and Zitao’s hometown in Qingdao, which is also where Qian met Changmin, who was an immigrant that lived there, and where Zitao was born. Jongdae is excited because he gets to see a new part of China. At the same time, though, he’s kind of sad that he’s not at home celebrating this in his hometown in Siheung with his grandparents. He misses his mom, dad, Joonmyun, Jongin, and his other relatives. He misses being back home in Siheung because that means getting to see his old friend Baekhyun who lives far away in Japan now, and only comes back to Korea for important holidays. They were such good singing buddies back then.

No matter how sad Jongdae is, he tries to hide it with a smile as he celebrates the Chinese new year among a bunch of strangers in a strange city, far away from the warmth and comfort of his own hometown back in Siheung or his parents’ house in the outskirts of Seoul or his mini apartment in the center of Seoul.

And no matter how much he hates superstitions, he still eats the mooncake together with his new family just to please them, and he even wore red, too. Whatever makes his holidays better.

\---

Month 9. If he's pregnant he'd be giving birth to a beautiful baby by now.

But 9 months just means that his time will be close to over here in China, and he'd have to return to Korea for his senior year. And of course, for Minseok's graduation party. He promised he'd be there, after all.

But nobody except him seems to be noticing it. It's 2 and a half months until finals and then waiting for their report cards and then Jongdae has to go back home. Zitao has said it a million times that he wants to tag along with Jongdae to Korea, but Qian strongly says no.

And this month is also the month that Jongin will debut with his new 6 member group. Sehun and some guy named Chanyeol (who can be seen tagging along to Sehun and Jongin’s dates) will be in it. Jongin apparently has a stage name now—Kai—and the group’s upcoming debut is among one of the most talked about topics in Jongdae’s class.

Jongdae has no problem with it and actually feels happy until the girls find out that Jongdae is Jongin’s older brother.

“You’re Kai’s older brother?! What the hell, Chen Chen, what is this?!” Luhan half-yells as he breaks through the crowd of girls intimidating Jongdae. “Why didn’t you tell me that the Jongin you always talked about was debuting? In SM, too?!”

“What the hell, I don’t know how these girls know!” Jongdae says, covering his face from the mob of fangirls shoving cameras in his face, so they can take a picture of him as a proof that Kai’s older brother goes to their school.

The sudden surge of fame makes Jongdae uncomfortable and he hears even more ridiculous gossips about him and his brother being spread around. He doesn’t like it at all and he just wants to go home and punch someone because he hates being noticed.

“Jongdae don’t worry! I’ll be your bodyguard!” Is what Luhan says that day while dragging him away from the mob of fangirls.

Jongdae couldn’t have been more pleased.

\---

“Your fame is killing me. I got mobbed at school.” Jongdae groans and Jongin smiles from his phone screen.

“I’m sorry, hyung..” He mumbles.

“Don’t worry, just have fun and I’ll figure something out. Besides, I’m coming home in like 3 months. Wait for me?”

\---

It was in the 10th month that Luhan starts doing sweet things with Jongdae. He starts buying Jongdae lots of coffee and takes him out to nice cafes and changes ever since he found out about Kai. He takes lots of pictures, buys him nice things and souvenirs, and takes him out to a lot more tourism spots that Zitao would have ever brought him to. At first, Jongdae is confused but pretty happy with the change. Someone is caring for him and he kind of likes that. He likes that someone is actually being this nice to him, he misses this feeling. It reminded him of his ex-boyfriend before he moved and they broke it off, deciding it would be better for them to be just friends, but that’s another story. But then he figures it out, the reason why Luhan changed and started treating him so nicely.

Luhan wants him for his brother’s fame. He knows how Luhan wants to be singer and be a trainee in Korea. He knows Luhan has failed a JYP audition before, despite all his hardwork. So he confronts Luhan about it after a while.

“What are you doing?” Jongdae asks one day during one of their coffee dates. Luhan looks up from his drink.

“What?”

“What are you doing? Why are you doing this? Do you just do this because I’m Kai The Great’s older brother?” Jongdae shoots without beating around the bush. Luhan blinks in surprise.

“What?” Luhan repeats, that same blazed expression on his face and Jongdae wants to punch him so bad.

“Is it because you want to be famous, too? If it is, then stop it.” Jongdae says with a harsh tone, but Luhan’s expression remains the same, blazed one.

“Of course not, why would you think that?”

“Because you’re just the type to do that.” Jongdae says. “I’ve known you for a few months now. It may not be a long time, but I know you enough to assume that you would do these kinds of things. You’re a flower boy anyway, and you get the attention from all these girls in school, and you want more. Is that it? Is it because of your dream to become a singer?” Jongdae asks.

“Don’t be so offended! Jongdae, you know you’re my friend and I would never do that! I’m doing all these nice things because—“ But Luhan was cut off quickly.

“You know what? Save it, flower boy.” And he leaves because honestly, he couldn’t bear to hear Luhan’s explanation and blow up on him in public. After all, Jongdae still likes Luhan.

\---

And by his 11th month, he’s still avoiding Luhan and the bunch of fangirls that attack whenever he’s around. Even though Jongin has publicly asked fans to leave his older brothers alone, fans still chase after Jongdae. He wonders how bad Joonmyun has it in Korea. He feels bad for his hyung. Even Zitao kind of pities Jongdae now.

Now that he thinks about it, maybe that crazy palm reader girl from XI-4 was right, after all. He is gathering a lot of attention and is getting a lot of fame now. And about love, even though an official date never happened, he’s (kind of) in love with Luhan, and he still (kind of) is. And the big thing that happened might have been this exchange!

But no, he’s Jongdae. He can’t possibly be believing this shit now. This shit is bogus! It’s fake! Why should he believe in things like this? It’s not cool at all. Fortune cookies are for entertainment purposes only (even though he’s heard people winning the lottery because of it) and palm readers are… Well, they read your palms and make assumptions about you through the lines on your hands. It’s stupid! Jongdae can also learn palm reading. It’s easy. He can just look it up on Google. Because obviously, you should trust Google with everything in life.

Getting fangifts has also been a normal part of his life ever since Jongin debuted. Some of those were presents some fans asked him to bring back home to Kai in Korea, and some are for him, although he’s not sure why. While some gifts are obvious about where or who they came from, some weren’t. It was like they were just left there and Jongdae’s not sure if it’s for Jongin or him. But he assumes it’s for him anyways because he’s pretty sure Jongin wouldn’t mind it even if he takes some of Jongin’s gifts from fans. He has plenty of fans to give him gifts directly in Korea anyways.

But Jongdae certainly wasn’t expecting it to be Luhan giving him these gifts. Kyungsoo told him that Luhan has been trying to find a way to apologize to Jongdae so he can spend more time with Jongdae, but he doesn’t know how. So instead of speaking and apologizing to Jongdae properly like a man, he follows some fangirls’ path by sending him anonymous gifts ( _so much for manly man_ , Jongdae thinks). And Jongdae wonders if Luhan is truly apologizing or still sucking up, but Kyungsoo assures him that Luhan means good, because Jongdae’s leaving in a month.

And then it hit him.

He’s leaving. But Luhan can’t possibly like him that much to actually want to spend the final days of his life as an exchange student in China to want to spend more time with him, right? After all, he actually wants to end it like this, that’s why he tries to hate Luhan by thinking negative thoughts about him when he starts treating Jongdae so nicely.

He doesn’t want Luhan to hurt.

\---

“Dude, don’t be so old fashioned, you know there’s Skype and various other social media shit, right?” Minseok says, eating a bread. Jongdae notices how much more chubbier Minseok has gotten due to the stress of the college entrance exams. “It’s not like it’s the 18th century or something. This is the modern times, man!”

“Yeah, I know, but it’s just that..” Jongdae lightly massages his forehead. “It’ll be different when it’s long distance, you know.”

“How different can it be, you’ll probably just end up being Pokopang buddies on Line anyways.” Minseok grumbles. “Dude, come on. I gotta study man!”

“Ugh, okay fine. Just… Just go and leave me alone in my misery.”

\---

Jongdae decides he’s going to be a man about it and talk to Luhan a week before finals. He needs to settle things between them because Luhan looks so sad and Kyungsoo’s judging him (“Dude, just say goodbye properly and don’t let it end badly. You’re so going to regret it. It’ll work out if you’re meant to be, trust me. Besides, we all saw this coming. If he didn’t like you, he wouldn’t have approached you and fallen for you this hard. I know how you feel. Stop making me a messenger between you and him and speak directly, will you?”) and he really needs the closure, too. He needs to hear what Luhan has to say and if it’s true that he was being nice because he wants to create good memories for the both of them before Jongdae leaves, then oh.

So Jongdae approaches Luhan in the cafeteria.

Luhan is dancing happily to SISTAR19’s Gone Not Around Any Longer, courtesy of the cafeteria’s choice of radio station, and Jongdae wants to laugh because he sucks and _why is he singing Hyolyn’s parts in a high pitched voice and OH MY GOD that sounds so fucking terrible_?!

“Luhan?” Luhan stops dancing and looks at Jongdae curiously.

“Hey!” Luhan says nervously. Jongdae smiles because ~~GOD DAMN IT WHY IS HE SO ADORABLE IS HE EVEN HUMAN OMG~~

“So uh, how’s it going?” Jongdae scratches his neck nervously and Luhan answers with a small “not bad”.

“So I know you sent those anonymous gifts. The ones with flowers and chocolates. Kyungsoo told me. Why?”

“Because I’m apologizing for making you think I was using you. I wasn’t, okay? I was just… Trying to make you feel comfortable before you leave.” Luhan sighs.

“What the fuck, am I in a coma or something?” Luhan laughs lightly at the joke.

“Sorry, okay? I made you upset. I mean it, I want to make you feel good and not burdened. I want you to leave Beijing with a good impression.”

“It already has a good impression.” _Because you’re here._

Luhan smiles softly at Jongdae and Jongdae wants to jump and kiss Luhan right now. “Well, I want to make it better, then. So, are we good now? I’m not after you for Kai, anyways, I’m after you for you.”

Jongdae wants to puke at the cheesiness. Luhan is back, even though now they only have 5 weeks left until Jongdae’s departure.

\---

Jongdae brings Luhan home to his apartment to meet Zitao and it is apparently a not so good idea because now all he hears is TVXQ, TVXQ, TVXQ, more TVXQ and sappy, old school Korean dramas (such as Rooftop Prince or Coffee Prince or anything ending with ‘Prince’, really), and he is being ignored while Zitao and Luhan fanboy over a series that they are both coincidentally currently watching (To The Beautiful You, but Jongdae honestly thinks SM dramas are crap, although he’d never tell that to Luhan and Zitao).

When the day ends, both Luhan and Zitao give good reviews about each other to Jongdae, and Jongdae’s kind of glad. Because then, when he’s gone, maybe Zitao and Luhan can hang out with each other and fanboy over things together like that again.

\---

“2 weeks holiday with nothing to do. Are you sure you don’t want to go touring around town tomorrow?” Luhan offers as they walk down a night market.

“I’m leaving in 3 weeks so I just want to spend my last 3 weeks with my family and you. And maybe get some stuff for my family back home… Do you think this would fit a 22 year old office worker?” Jongdae asks, holding up a sweater that’s on sale.

“That’s sweet, but if you do a city tour you’ll be spending more time with me, too. But maybe not your family. You should spend more time with them, now that I think about it. And that sweater’s ugly.” Luhan says, crunching up his nose.

“But this is totally Joonmyun’s style—gross sweaters. I wonder how he managed to bag a gorgeous girl at work. I have yet to meet her but I certainly can’t wait!” Jongdae says excitedly. “I would love to ask her what attracted her towards Joonmyun.”

“Maybe it’s his charms, looks aren’t everything. I like someone but the person’s not looking at me because maybe, I’m not interesting enough. Even though I’m good looking and all.” Luhan shamelessly flips his nonexistent hair on his shoulder and Jongdae turns to look at him.

“What are you saying? You’re interesting! Who’s that dude, I’m gonna punch him in the face.” Jongdae grabs another sweater and holds it up. “Should I get this for Jongin?”

“You should, and that person is a secret. You should never know.”

“What do you mean?! I’m your best friend! Tell me everything, you said you were gonna make me leave Beijing with a good impression on it.” Jongdae walks through the narrow spaces of the market and finds another store with a huge “SALE” sign plastered on the front.

“I’m not sure you’ll leave with a good impression if I tell you this. Because the person I like is a guy… And I’m not sure how you’d feel about that… Do you think this shirt’s good? I really like it.” Luhan mumbles and Jongdae stops.

“Wait, you’re gay?”

“See, I told you—“

“Wait no, I’m not judging you or anything, no, it’s just that. Wow. I thought you were straight as hell because you kept hitting on girls. I mean, I’m gay, I would know. This is surprising. Although not that much because who the hell looks this pretty and is straight?” Jongdae shrugs and Luhan sighs as he picks up a nearby shirt that he’s been eyeing and inspects it.

“Yeah, well, it’s called fanservice and trying to cover up the fact that you’re gay. People will judge and hate you for it. I wasn’t even sure I was gay until… Until I started liking that person. Tell me what you think, come on, I want to buy this shirt. It’s cute, right? I’ve been waiting for this to go on sale since forever!”

“Well who’s the lucky guy who confirmed everything for you, then?” Jongdae asks, rummaging through the pile of sale t-shirts. Sale items are always appealing but the sizes will never fit Jongdae, because they’re always either too big or too small. But they seem to fit Luhan just fine because Luhan’s small. He even fits in a girl’s skinny jeans.

“Honestly? You.” Luhan says, sighing. “See, this isn’t a good idea and you’ll leave feeling burdened and—“

“Oh wow. Me? That was… Straight-forward.” Jongdae blinks, dropping the XXL sized t-shirt he was holding.

“—you’ll go home and be upset about it and I’ll be heartbroken and I’ll probably end up dying alone—“

“Luhan.”

“—in a slow and painful death because of the scar in my heart and you’ll be living happily in Korea and—“

“Luhan.”

“What?” Luhan stops.

“Breathe.” Jongdae says, making hand gestures as if to encourage Luhan to breathe and the flower boy slowly breathes.

“Breathe because I’m going to tell you something and I’m not sure if you need to sit down but just in case, please lean against the wall.” Jongdae says, pushing Luhan gently against a nearby wall. Luhan mumbles an “okay” as he tries to breathe again.

“I really, really, like you back, too. And that shirt you’ve been eyeing? Someone else picked it up.”

Jongdae doesn’t know whether to break up the fight or watch in amusement when Luhan fights the other guy for the shirt.

\---

“You’re coming home! I’ve missed you!” Jongin says, the background is his practice room—mirrors and cloud backdrops.

Jongdae laughs, smiling at his brother from over his laptop. “Me too, Jongin, me too. How’s Joonmyun?”

“Doing good. He’s doing swell because Sooyoung noona’s taking such a good care of him. Adorable, really, you should see them.”

“Yeah, I can’t wait.”

\---

“So, you’re leaving tomorrow, huh?” Luhan asks, looking ahead as he walks beside Jongdae.

“Yeah, I am. First flight tomorrow morning.” Jongdae sighs and puts his hands in his jeans pocket, casually striding along the park.

“Do you miss home?”

“Of course I do. That’s where my family is. But I don’t know anymore, I don’t really feel like I belong there for now. I still want to stay here longer.”

“Why? Don’t you miss your family? Isn’t there where you belong?”

“Of course I do. But I feel like I should be here with you. I’m not even sure when we can meet again after I leave.” Jongdae laughs bitterly. “I think I belong here with you, Luhan.”

“You should go home. I’m not kicking you out or anything, I just think it would be the best for you.”

“Funny, that sounds familiar. Joonmyun said that when I was leaving to China. A lot of people has the same advice for me, huh?”

“Maybe you should take it.” Luhan nudges Jongdae and he just laughs.

“Nah. I’ll stay strong to my beliefs. I still won’t believe in fortune telling and that shit.”

“I’m gonna miss you, Chen Chen. You’ve been a great seatmate.” Luhan smiles, looking at Jongdae as he stops.

“So have you.”

“So, last meeting, huh? How do we make this meaningful?” Luhan asks, tapping his feet on the ground.

“Was that a code?” Jongdae smirks, stepping in closer towards Luhan.

“No, but if you see it that way, then sure. It’s a code.”

Jongdae laughs before closing in and kissing Luhan. It’s a dumb, high school-ish kiss, but they’re high school kids. Even though it’s kind of sloppy and inexperienced, but Jongdae likes it. He likes that Luhan’s lips taste like bubblegum, he likes that his lips are soft and Jongdae kind of regrets kissing Luhan now because he’s really going to miss it once he’s back in Korea.

Luhan pulls away and slips something in between Jongdae’s fingers. “So, Jongdae, want to crack this open for good luck before you go back?”

 

 

 

 

**PROLOGUE**

The world is full of love, that’s one thing a 23 year old Kim Jongdae is sure of, and that’s why he decided to open a small café, because that’s where people go to for dates. He likes seeing happy couples because it makes him happy, too. He kind of misses his high school days where he used to just think about Luhan, and every day was Luhan, Luhan, Luhan on his mind.

He grew to forget about the Chinese flower boy, but when he opened that café, it reminded him of the soft, bubblegum lips he kissed back then in high school, in the middle of summer in a sweaty park in China. All the high school couples seemed to be telling the story of him and Luhan. It was terrible and he rarely spent time in the café. Questions like why did he open up this café with Minseok hyung always pops up in his head, but he needs the money. He needs it to live and go back to China to visit Luhan, who has just become a mere gaming buddy once high school was over (like Minseok has said before). When he does, it was only to keep Minseok from misleading his group of employees and blowing up stuff. His partner/barista is his best friend, but Jongdae can never trust him too much.

But it was on a particularly hot summer day in Seoul when Jongdae is manning the cashier, that he sees something that changes his life from that day on. A fortune cookie bowl. On the cashier.

“Minseokie hyung!” He yells but the barista just glances at him before cackling.

“Hey, why you gotta hate that thing so much? It’s just for fun!” Minseok says, wiping the counter.

“Fuck you!” But Jongdae got curious and cracked one open anyways.

_Find what you’re looking for?_

At that moment, the door opens with its familiar jingle and when Jongdae looks up and sees that familiar, blazed face, he answers the question instead.

“I found it.”

**Author's Note:**

> I AM SORRY


End file.
